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Surds PDF
Surds PDF
Surds PDF
mc-TY-surds-2009-1
Roots and powers are closely related, but only some roots can be written as whole numbers.
Surds are roots which cannot be written in this way. Nevertheless, it is possible to manipulate
surds, and to simplify formulæ involving them.
In order to master the techniques explained here it is vital that you undertake plenty of practice
exercises so that they become second nature.
After reading this text, and/or viewing the video tutorial on this topic, you should be able to:
Contents
1. Introduction 2
2. Powers and roots 2
3. Surds and irrational numbers 4
4. Simplifying expressions involving surds 5
5. Rationalising expressions containing surds 7
43 = 4 × 4 × 4 = 64 .
But what if we have negative powers? What would be the value of 4−3 ?
To find out, we shall look at what we know already:
43 = 4 × 4 × 4 = 64 ,
42 = 4×4 = 16 ,
41 = 4 = 4,
and so 40 = 4÷4 = 1
(because to get the answer you divide the previous one by 4).
Now let’s continue the pattern:
1
4−1 = 1÷4 = 4
,
1 1
4−2 = 4
÷4 = 16
,
1 1
4−3 = 16
÷4 = 64
1
and 64 = 1/43 . So a negative power gives the reciprocal of the number — that is, 1 over the
1
number. Thus 4−2 = 1/42 = 16 , and 4−1 = 1/41 = 41 . Similarly,
1 1
3−2 = =
3 2 9
and
1 1
5−3 = = .
53 125
A common misconception is that since the power is negative, the result must be negative: as
you can see, this is not so.
Now we know that 40 = 1 and 41 = 4, but what is 41/2 ?
Similarly, √
91/2 = 9 = 3.
And in general, any number a raised to the power 12 equals the square root of a:
√
a1/2 = a .
So the power, or index, associated with square roots is 12 . Also, in the same way that the index 12
represents the square root, other fractions can be used to represent other roots. The cube root
of the number 4 is written as √
41/3 = 4
3
where 13 is the index representing cube root. Similarly, the fourth root of 5 may be written as
√
51/4 = 4 5, and so on. The n-th root is represented by the index 1/n, and the n-th root of a is
written as √
a1/n = n a .
√
So, for example, if we have 3 64 then this equals 64 to the power 13 ; and then
√
64 = 641/3
3
= (4 × 4 × 4)1/3
= 4.
There are some important points about roots, or fractional powers, that we need to remember.
First, we can write
41/2 × 41/2 = 4
√ √
4× 4 = 4
√
( 4)2 = 4
so that the square root of 4, squared, gives you 4 back again. In fact the square root of any
number, squared, gives you that number back again.
Next, if we have a very simple quadratic equation to solve, such as x2 = 4, then the solutions
are x = +2 or x = −2. There are two roots, as (+2) × (+2) = 4 and also (−2) × (−2) = 4. We
can write the roots as ±2. So not all roots are unique. But in a lot of circumstances we only
need the positive root, and you do not have to put a plus sign in front of the square root for the
positive root. By convention, if there is no sign in front of the square root then the root is taken
to be positive.
√
On the other hand, suppose we were given −9. Could we work this out and get a real answer?
Now √
−9 = (−9)1/2 ,
and so we are looking for a number which multiplied by itself gives −9. But there is no such
number, because 3 × 3 = 9 and also (−3) × (−3) = 9. So you cannot find the square root of a
negative number and get a real answer.
Surds are often found when using Pythagoras’ Theorem, and in trigonometry. So, where
√ possible,
it is useful to √
be able to simplify expressions involving
√ √surds. Take, for example,
√ 8. This can
be written as 4 × 2, which we can rewrite as 4 × 2, in other words as 2 2:
√ √
8 = 4×2
√ √
= 4× 2
√
= 2 2.
In general, the square root of a product is the product of the square roots, and vice versa. This
is useful to know when simplifying surd expressions.
Key Point
If a positive whole number is not a perfect square, then its square root is called a surd. A surd
cannot be written as a fraction, and is an example of an irrational number.
√ √
If we have a product of brackets involving surds, for example (1 + 3)(2 − 2), we can expand
out the brackets in the usual way:
√ √ √ √ √ √
(1 + 3)(2 − 2) = 2 − 2 + 2 3 − 3 2
√ √ √
= 2 − 2 + 2 3 − 6.
√ √
But what if we have this expression, (1 + 3)(1 − 3)? If we expand this out and simplify the
answer, we get
√ √ √ √ √ √ √
(1 + 3)(1 − 3) = 1 − 3 + 3 − 3 3 = 1 − 9 = 1 − 3 = −2 .
√ √
So the product (1 + 3)(1 − 3) does not involve surds at all. This is an example of a general
result known as the difference of two squares. This general result may be written as
a2 − b2 = (a + b)(a − b)
√
for any numbers a and b. In our example a = 1 and b = 3, so
√ √ √
(1 + 3)(1 − 3) = 12 − ( 3)2 = 1 − 3 = −2 .
The expansion of the difference of two squares is another useful fact to know and remember.
Key Point
The formula for the difference of two squares is
a2 − b2 = (a + b)(a − b) .
Key Point
A surd expression in the form
1 1
√ √ or √ √
( a + b) ( a − b)
√ √
can be written as c a + d b by using the formula for the difference of two squares.
Exercises
Answers